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Campaign starts in Brazil
Brazil officially launched its presidential campaign for the October 4 election on Sunday, August 16, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro opening in a technical tie in the polls.
“Brazil on Sunday, August 16, launched a seven-week campaign”
Lula began his bid for a non-consecutive fourth term at Vila Euclides in São Bernardo do Campo, while Flávio Bolsonaro chose Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for his kickoff.
The race is set to run for seven weeks, with a possible second round on October 25, and both candidates turned sovereignty, security, and the economy into central campaign themes.
Lula, 80, framed his campaign around social and economic proposals and promised to combat gender violence and organized crime, while Flávio Bolsonaro focused on public security and a tough-on-crime stance.
Polls cited in the coverage placed Lula ahead in the first round while narrowing the gap for a simulated runoff, with one scenario giving Lula 43% to Flávio Bolsonaro’s 40% and another giving Lula 38% to Flávio’s 31%.
Security and personal attacks
At São Bernardo do Campo, Lula told supporters, “I will not allow the right to come to power,” and he linked his bid to preventing “a right that used to laugh at the children who died for lack of medicines,” according to Cadena SER.
In Rio de Janeiro, Flávio Bolsonaro accused Lula of “fighting with countries 10,000 km away from Brazil,” while he said the country’s security problems were “the thief, drug trafficker, rapist, robber, and murderer we have next door,” as Cadena SER described his remarks.
Lula’s security pitch emphasized targeting faction leaders rather than “any mere member,” and he declared, “It’s by taking away their money that we will end organized crime,” in the EFE account carried by El Periódico Extremadura.
Flávio Bolsonaro promised to treat PCC, Comando Vermelho (CV), and the militias as terrorist organizations, and he said, “I will restore Brazil’s sovereignty. I will treat (the gangs) PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital), Comando Vermelho (CV), and the militias (paramilitary groups) as terrorist organizations,” in the same EFE-based coverage.
What is at stake
The campaign’s stakes are tied to how each side says it will handle organized crime and Brazil’s strategic resources, with Lula arguing for exploiting critical minerals and rare earths in ways that keep value inside the country.
““We are going to exploit critical minerals for the benefit of the Brazilian people,””
Lula said, “We are going to exploit critical minerals for the benefit of the Brazilian people,” and he also promised to pursue security by taking aim at the leaders of organized crime, in the EFE account published by El Periódico Extremadura.
Flávio Bolsonaro’s agenda, as described in the same coverage, includes treating criminal groups as terrorists and also cutting taxes, red tape, and trusted positions in the Administration if he wins.
The political context for Flávio Bolsonaro’s campaign includes his father, Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison for crimes related to the post-2022 election coup plot and is currently serving the sentence under humanitarian house arrest, with the Federal Supreme Court confirming the continuation of that measure in July.
With the election set for October 4 and a possible runoff on October 25, the sources frame the contest as a close two-person race that could determine whether Lula’s fourth-term bid or Flávio Bolsonaro’s security-focused challenge prevails.